I Listen. I am rose, student and apprentice to all things good and green. I am an alchemist, herbalist and Medicine womyn. I seek the ancient wisdom and sacred Medicine. I am a keeper of the Earth. I Am. Peace.

My beloved Hypericum
perforatum is a member of the Hypericaceae
family, of the Hypericum genus.

A native to Europe and Asia, she now grows throughout the northern hemisphere
where seasons and rainfall have a relationship pattern. Think of our spring to
autumn rains. Hypericum takes roots in meadows/lawns, along hedgerows, and on high,
dry, sunny hilltops. She seems to make her home in most sunny locations that
are less traveled (I rarely see here along roadways, or common paths). She
begins her blooming as summer takes root, and her blooms (and flowering tops)
are harvested throughout the summer months.

The size of the plant is influenced by its environment (soil quality,
compactness, sun exposure and the like). She is a creeping perennial that can
grow to upward of 3 feet high (and higher), though she tends to droop as the
season evolves. Her stems are erect, somewhat woody, branching at the upper
section, with opposite, oblong leaves measuring about ⅓ to 1 inch, with
their telltale pellucid dots.

She is considered a non-native invasive by
some, though I find her quite well behaved. The plant, apparently, is known to
be toxic to grazing animals.

Her genus is born of Greek, hyper meaning
above and eikon meaning an image, a picture. This botanical name reflects the
history of the plant being hung over religious icons during the Christian Saint
John’s day with intentions of protection. In all likelihood, this practice is
much older. But rest assured, she is protective!

Parts used: Buds, flowering tops.

Harvest: Budding and flowering tops,
typically July to September in my part of the world.

Taste: Bitter,
astringent, resinous. The fresh flower is often described as acrid, though I
enjoy nibbling a few fresh buds and flowers every year.

Energetics: Cooling.

Chakra
association: Solar
Plexus (and the Crown)

Key Actions:
Anodyne, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, nervine (relaxing), trophorestorative
(invites harmony and balance to a particular organ or system - in this case,
the nervous system - whether the function is in excess or deficient).

Contraindications: To me, none, though care of use,
application and dosage should always be considered with pregnancy and
breastfeeding. You’ll likely run across writings that warn of photosensitivity,
which is not without merit… if you’re munching on it in a pasture with other
grazing animals, or ingesting it in dry, powdered, capsulated form. Using this
plant in the traditional ways (tea, tincture, infused oil) has not, in my
experience and those around me, presented such a contraindication.

You
might also come across information warning you that it interferes with monoamine
oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), once-popular antidepressant medications… or that it
is an MAOI, complete with the dangerous side effects of the once-popular meds.
It is not an MAOI, and while the fantasy-theory persists, it has long been
disproven. Henriette Kres shares on her website that the constituent “Hypericin
does show some MAO-inhibition in vitro atveryhigh
concentrations. At regular human doses, though, virtually nil.”

I’ve heard, too, that it can interfere with
the efficacy of other pharmaceuticals, but have not read anything that
convinces me of this. Of course, until such time that the pharmaceutical
industry can tell me how their drugs interact with all their other drugs (and
foods, and herbs), I choose to trust botanicals (and other Nature-born foods)
used in their long-standing traditional ways.

Medicinal use: Flame. Burns, inflammation, nerve injury and involvement, general wound healing. And think of these indications not only in physiological terms, but holistic terms as well.

I use Hypericum perforatum for burns of all kinds, to both treat and prevent.

For years she has been sunscreen in both oil and tincture form. My experience (and I hear this from others) is that her impact seems cumulative, meaning I’ve needed her less and less for this purpose over the 20-r-so years I’ve been using her in this way. You may have heard that Hypericum perforatum causes photosensitivity, but my findings suggest this is true only in the use of it in capsule form, which is not a traditional application of the herb, as Susun Weed often reminds us.

I keep her in my kitchen for treating burns that happen there, applying a bit to the injured area as soon as it happens. I find a spray bottle of tincture blended with a bit of (responsibly and sustainably procured) glycerin or (better yet) local honey to be a fast and simple way to administer the herb to the injury. It mixes nice with aloe too, for this use. Balms and salves made with an infused oil of Hypericum perforatum are useful for the same, especially over the course of healing the wound.

I read an article, years back, by Susun Weed in Sage Woman magazine of how she used it to prevent muscle soreness after excessive physical exertion. Since then, I’ve employed the tincture after such activity, internally (and topically), especially after the first major snowfall of winter (I shovel) and during the first garden tasks in spring (after a lazy winter hibernation). My results with this application never cease to dazzle me.

The Remington and Wood, 1918, The US Dispensary shares, “Among the complaints for which it was used werehysteria, mania, intermittent fever, dysentery, gravel, hemorrhages, pectoral complaints, worms, and jaundice; but it was, perhaps, most highly esteemed as a remedy inwoundsandbruises, for which it was employed both internally and externally.”

It is certainly a wonderful Medicine for nerve injuries. Boericke, 1901: Materia Medica states, “The great remedy for injuries to nerves, especially of fingers, toes and nails. Crushed fingers, especially tips,” and I can attest to this. Of course, I’ve used it with injuries of every kind, especially where the nerves are excited or flaming. It mixes well with antispasmodics as a lovely and effective tincture (liniment) for dripping and/or gentle massage along the spine for back injuries. Quite frankly, I find this practice to have a positive impact on injury, inflammation, pain and most any disharmony most anywhere in the body.

Hypericum perforatum also promotes healthy tissue growth.

So, you can see why this botanical is a fixture in my Medicine bag.

Spiritual relationship: This is the botanical that asks, “Have you been burned?” It is also the botanical that asks, “For what do you burn?” Need I say more?

Energetically, I find this herb to be a great match-up for those who carry the burden of trauma (past, present and future) with them and seem to enjoy sharing it with others, who wear their life-injuries like a badge, and who exhibit addictive-like behaviors to such less-than-positive and depleting experiences.

In such instances, and other intuitively guided cases, I’m most often drawn to use Hypericum perforatum as a tincture in super-homeopathic doses, as a flower essence, and in blessing waters.

The Lion's Tooth

Do you see what I see? The land
of my dominion!
Just one gentle, passing breeze,
Or even just a random sneeze
Can lift me up and carry me as on an eagle’s pinion.
And scattered into many parts, I go where’er I’m cast
And put down deep and lasting roots, wherever land is grassed.

Do you know what I know? My life is never-ending!
My own seeds number millions -
Each one produces billions!
Pity all poor gardeners’ vain efforts at lawn tending!
Bitter poisons, mowers’ blades, all you have used to fight me -
Could never yank this lion’s tooth, so go ahead and bite me!

–
Paula T. Calhoun

Meet Taraxicum
officinalis – Dandelion

Family: Asteraceae

The
Taraxicum genus is one of our North American natives, also home throughout
temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. This ubiquitous beauty is so well
known that it needs little botanical description. The genus is described as a herbaceous, tap-rooted perennial plant of many species that adapt to the
unique qualities of their environment.

We know this plant most readily by its golden-yellow composite flower head, which is made up of many tiny
flowers (florets). These happy flower heads open in day and close at night, a
pattern I relate to breath.

The flower heads are born singly on the leafless scape (the
hollow-tube-like-stem), that exudes a milky white latex that we all recognize.

And who hasn’t dug a dandelion root? The typical tap root, sometimes splitting,
from which a basal rosette of simple, lobed leaves, growing 2 to more than 10
inches in length, gives birth to one or more scapes which, in turn, give birth to the flower
heads that mature into spherical seed heads called blowballs.

You may already know that the common name, dandelion, is born of the French
common name, dent de lion, which means tooth of the lion. Why? Observe the
leaves… the flowers… the root… of what might they remind you?

Contraindications: Rare allergies. While considered safe during pregnancy, nursing and for children and the aged, it might best be avoided in Medicine form by those with low blood pressure.

Uses:

The leaves are, to my way of thinking, first and foremost a Food. The leaf has a longtime tradition as a powerful diuretic, especially dried and brewed as tea. Unlike pharmaceutical diuretics, it’s rich in the potassium that is often lost as a result of its diuretic action, making it a synergistically harmonized Medicine, even when water retention or cardiac congestion is present. David Hoffman says, “overall, this herb is a most valuable general tonic and perhaps the best widely applicable diuretic and liver tonic.”

Susun Weed suggests its use for minimizing bloating ad cerebral edema (in Ginkgo) that leads to irritability and mood swings, as well as for menstrual challenged of cramps, water retention, pelvic congestions and to balance feelings.

The root, with its hepatic and cholagogue actions, has a history for being a premier choice for inflammation of the liver and gallbladder. In general, it aids digestion by maximizing the flow of bile into the intestines. It is supportive to a congested liver that is burdened by hormones (HRT) or other drugs.

Ellingwood mentions the root in the treatments of chronic jaundice, rheumatism, chronic skin eruptions and chronic gastritis, among other conditions.

This plant holds a special place in my heart and around my little backyard farm.

In spring, I simply dig up the early dandies (usually from paths and garden beds where I prefer they not grow) and use the leaves fresh in salads and sautées and roast the roots for a delicious decoction to enjoy throughout the year. In general, the leaves are sweetest in spring, and the roots in autumn.

Despite all the years that I’ve been leveraging this botanical for Food and for Medicine, I’m still inspired by her and learn new things every year. I’ve recently seen some herbalists using the flowers to make an infused oil for topical use. This is new to me, so I’m making a small batch of oil so I may experience it before setting out on research and conversations with my Green peers.

resources: Rosalee de la Foret, various sources

David Hoffman, Medical Herbalism

Henriette Kress, Practical Herbs

Susun Weed, various sources

Wikipedia for the botany bits

Personal notes from multiple sources

Personal experience.

Dance with Taraxicum
officinalis– Dandelion

As the gifts of Taraxicum sprout, blossom and bloom,
the gift of Food and Medicine continue. Here’s a few ideas to get your creative
juices flowing…

Simmer the water, vinegar and salt together until
the salt is fully dissolved. Let cool. Pack your jar/s with the dandy buds add
the garlic and lemon zest (dividing evenly between jars, if you’re using
multiples). Pour in the warm liquid over the plant matter leaving about ½-inch
headspace, using a chopstick to remove air bubbles (and adding more liquid if
need be). Cover, label, and put in cold storage for several weeks before using
(alchemy happens!). Then… enjoy as you would any caper!

Simmer the dandy petals, apple, rhubarb and lemon
juice for 20-30 minutes. Strain out the solids, measure the liquid and add an
equal amount of cane sugar, by volume, to the liquid, return to the simmer
until the sugar is dissolved. Bottle, label, refrigerate to increase shelf-life
and enJOY as you would any other syrup!

Herbal
Power

Powder your dried leaves to add to your culinary
green powers. I often mix this and similar powders with onion, garlic, dried
tomato “waste” from puree-making to keep in a shaker jar for adding to foods
and as a garnish.

Temporary
Tattoos

-->

Henriette Kress suggests using the
white “milk” of the plant to create your own body art. The art isn’t visible
right away, but keep it dry, get a good night’s rest, and your brown tattoo
will be waiting for you when you wake, and will last a few days (unless you
wash it off).

Meet Stellaria media – Chickweed

Family: Caryophyllaceae

Charming Stellaria media, the common star,
is another non-native botanical – introduced from Europe – that has made itself
quite comfortable and welcomed in North America.It’s also made itself at home
throughout Asia.

But
calling this plant “it” doesn’t resonate with me, so I’m shifting that up here…

My experience with this little plant is that her
seeds germinate in late winter, she flourishes, flowers, and goes to seed in
spring, well before summer is even in our thoughts. In summer, when so many
other botanicals are busy flourishing, chickweed is rarely seen. Yet, when
those other plants mature and begin their waning, chickweed returns.

Maude Grieve describes chickweed like this:

“The stem is procumbent and weak, much
branched, often reaching a considerable length, trailing on the ground, juicy,
pale green and slightly swollen at the joints. Chickweed is readily
distinguished from the plants of the same genus by the line of hairs that runs
up the stem on one side only, which when it reaches a pair of leaves is
continued on the opposite side. The leaves are succulent, egg-shaped, about 1/2
inch long and 1/4 inch broad, with a short point, pale green and quite smooth,
with flat stalks below, but stalkless above. They are placed on the stem in
pairs. The small white star-like flowers are situated singly in the axils of
the upper leaves. Their petals are narrow and deeply cleft, not longer than the
sepals. They open about nine o'clock in the morning and are said to remain open
just twelve hours in bright weather, but rain prevents them expanding, and
after a heavy shower they become pendent instead of having their faces turned
up towards the sun, though in the course of a few days rise again. The flowers
are already in bloom in March and continue till late in the autumn. The seeds
are contained in a little capsule fitted with teeth which close up in wet
weather, but when ripe are open and the seeds are shaken out by each movement
of the plant in the breeze this being one of the examples of the agency of the
wind in the dispersal of seeds, which is to be seen in similar form in the
capsules of poppy, henbane, campion and many other common plants.

The Chickweed is also an instance of what is
termed the 'Sleep of Plants,' for every night the leaves approach each other,
so that their upper surfaces fold over the tender buds of the new shoots, and
the uppermost pair but one of the leaves at the end of the stalk are furnished
with longer leafstalks than the others, so that they can close upon the
terminating pair and protect the tip of the shoot.”

As
a backyard farmer, I do my best to harvest this little wild one before my
chickens do, to use in spring salads, soups (a simple chickweed ‘n’ miso
with Egyptian onion being a early spring ritual), and the occasional pesto.

If
you are blessed to know someone with a cow field, request their permission to
forage there, for I have discovered the most robust chickweed (among other
botanicals) growing in such places.

Around
these parts two “chickweeds” are common, the Stellaria media (cool and smooth)
that we’re addressing here as well as Cerastium fontanum (warmer and fuzzy).

Harvest: Aerial parts. Spring and autumn
(or whenever you discover the fresh, vibrant growth of this little contrary
plant). The leaves, stems, flowers and seeds are all used as Food and Medicine.

Susun Weed suggests regular and
consistent use of FPM tincture (1 dropper full, 2-3 times a day) over time (up
to 16-monts) to dissolve ovarian cysts.

Chickweed has a long tradition of use
for cooling, soothing and whisking away many an infection and inflammation.
Over the years I’ve known of two folks who’ve praised its internal and external
use for calming their rosacea, though that result isn’t consistent with
everyone, but I’m still seeking folks to use it this way to see if we can spot
some telling pattern!

It has a long-time folk reputation for supporting
weight management.

It’s considered to be supportive to the
lymphatic system, much like calendula, as a gentle lymph-mover, though I’ve
never used it in this way, perhaps because I generally have more calendula with
which I make tincture for this use. But, if I didn’t have calendula, I’d
certainly give this a go!

Gerard said of chickweed, “the leaves of Chickweed boyled in water very soft, adding thereto
some hog's grease, the powder of Fenugreeke and Linseed, and a few roots of
Marsh Mallows, and stamped to the forme of Cataplasme or pultesse, taketh away
the swelling of the legs or any other part . . . in a word it comforteth,
digesteth, defendeth and suppurateth very notably.”

As I passed through my menopausal gate, my body simply wanted to be heavier.
For me, I’m confident that a need for grounding was involved here (that’s a
story for another time). But one of the folk-uses for this plant, as a
long-brew infusion (or tincture), is for supporting weight (specifically fat
cell) loss, and while I didn’t much care about this at the time, I may at some
point in the future, for chickweed has a tradition of use among the matriarchs
(or crones, if you prefer).

Finally, between her common name,
nutrients and actions, I tend to associate her with sacral chakra energies.
Culpepper associates her with the moon… and I

External

I appreciate chickweed worked into an
infused oil. I use it as is, or processed into a balm for all things itchy.
While my go-to for itchy situations is plantain, this is my number-two, and
I’ve known many moms over the years who swear by it for preventing and treating
diaper rash.

I have blended chickweed oil with
calendula oil for itchy, rashes that manifest in those “places where the sun
don’t shine” (quoted words lovingly stolen from herbalist, Matthew Wood). While
calendula alone is most often sufficient for managing these dark, dank
challenges, the addition of chickweed (or plantain) oil really quiets the
symptom of itch and, in turn, supports the whole of the healing process.

The fresh plant makes a fine poultice
for wounds and infections. Susun Weed says that it’s a favored application for
managing pink eye in kids.

Dance with Stellaria
media – Chickweed

Make these things and more! Ignite your imagination, intuition, and inspiration
to nurture a meaningful relationship with this lovely and generous little
botanical!

Spring Miso Soup. This is an annual tradition of
time. It’s usually my “first” Stellaria preparation.

Any soup, stew
or braising medium.

Pesto.

Spring frittata.
Oh yeah. Along with other wild harvests. ::nods::

Fresh, in salads.

Dehydrated– as out-of-season leaf additions to
foods, teas, as well as for powdering to use as a condiment and garnish.